Fish Responses to Experimental Fragmentation of Seagrass Habitat

Abstract: Understanding the consequences of habitat fragmentation has come mostly from comparisons of patchy and continuous habitats. Because fragmentation is a process, it is most accurately studied by actively fragmenting large patches into multiple smaller patches. We fragmented artificial seagrass habitats and evaluated the impacts of fragmentation on fish abundance and species richness over time (1 day, 1 week, 1 month). Fish assemblages were compared among 4 treatments: control (single, continuous 9‐m² patches); fragmented (single, continuous 9‐m² patches fragmented to 4 discrete 1‐m² patches); prefragmented/patchy (4 discrete 1‐m² patches with the same arrangement as fragmented); and disturbance control (fragmented then immediately restored to continuous 9‐m² patches). Patchy seagrass had lower species richness than actively fragmented seagrass (up to 39% fewer species after 1 week), but species richness in fragmented treatments was similar to controls. Total fish abundance did not vary among treatments and therefore was unaffected by fragmentation, patchiness, or disturbance caused during fragmentation. Patterns in species richness and abundance were consistent 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after fragmentation. The expected decrease in fish abundance from reduced total seagrass area in fragmented and patchy seagrass appeared to be offset by greater fish density per unit area of seagrass. If fish prefer to live at edges, then the effects of seagrass habitat loss on fish abundance may have been offset by the increase (25%) in seagrass perimeter in fragmented and patchy treatments. Possibly there is some threshold of seagrass patch connectivity below which fish abundances cannot be maintained. The immediate responses of fish to experimental habitat fragmentation provided insights beyond those possible from comparisons of continuous and historically patchy habitat.     

Cyclicity in the structure of female baboon social networks

There is an established and very influential view that primate societies have identifiable, persistent social organizations. It assumes that association patterns reflect long-term strategic interests that are not qualitatively perturbed by short-term environmental variability. We used data from two baboon troops in markedly different habitats over three consecutive seasons to test this assumption. Our results demonstrate pronounced cyclicity in the extent to which females maintained differentiated relationships. When food was plentiful, the companionships identified by social network analysis in the food-scarce season disappeared and were replaced by casual acquaintanceships more representative of mere gregariousness. Data from the fourth, food-scarce, season at one site indicated that few companions were re-united. It is likely that this reflected stochastic variation in individual circumstances. These results suggest that attention could profitably be paid to the effects of short-term local contingencies on social dynamics, and has implications for current theories of primate cognitive evolution. This contribution is part of the special issue “Social Networks: new perspectives” (Guest Editors: J. Krause, D. Lusseau and R. James).     

基于GA-ANN改进的空气质量预测模型

基于人工神经网络的空气质量预测模型优于传统的逐步回归模型,但由于性能差异不明显而较少在空气质量预报中应用. 设计了将遗传算法和神经网络算法相结合的基于GA_-ANN的空气质量预测模型,并利用天津市2003—2007年气象和污染物监测资料对该模型进行验证. 对2007年全年的ρ(SO₂),ρ(NO₂)和ρ(PM₁₀₎进行预测,预测值与实测值的相关系数分别为0.899 6,0.828 3和0.600 0. 与一般的人工神经网络预测模型相比较,GA_-ANN模型将空气质量等级预报的准确率从77.57%提高到79.67%. GA_-ANN模型可结合其他方法进行日常空气质量预报.      

A neural network experiment on the simulation of daily nitrate-nitrogen and suspended sediment fluxes from a small agricultural catchment

In this paper, we report an application of neural networks to simulate daily nitrate-nitrogen and suspended sediment fluxes from a small 7.1 km² agricultural catchment (Melarchez), 70 km east of Paris, France. Nitrate-nitrogen and sediment losses are only a few possible consequences of soil erosion and biochemical applications associated to human activities such as intensive agriculture. Stacked multilayer perceptrons models (MLPs) like the ones explored here are based on commonly available inputs and yet are reasonably accurate considering their simplicity and ease of implementation. Note that the simulation does not resort on water quality flux observations at previous time steps as model inputs, which would be appropriate, for example, to predict the water chemistry of a drinking water plant a few time steps ahead. The water quality fluxes are strictly mapped to historical mean flux values and to hydro-climatic variables such as stream flow, rainfall, and soil moisture index (12 model input candidates in total), allowing its usage even when no flux observations are available. Self-organizing feature maps based on the network structure established by Kohonen were employed first to produce the training and the testing data sets, with the intent to produce statistically close subsets so that any difference in model performance between validation and testing has to be associated to the model and not to the data subsets. The stacked MLPs reached different levels of performance simulating the nitrate-nitrogen flux and the suspended sediment flux. In the first instance, 2-input stacked MLP nitrate-nitrogen simulations, based on the same-day stream flow and on the 80-cm soil moisture index, have a performance of almost 90% according to the efficiency index. On the other hand, the performance of 3-input stacked MLPs (same-day stream flow, same-day historical flux, and same-day stream flow increment) reached a little more than 75% according to the same criterion. The results presented here are deemed already promising enough, and should encourage water resources managers to implement simple models whenever appropriate.     

Using accelerometer,high sample rate GPS and magnetometer data to develop a cattle movement and behaviour model

The study described in this paper developed a model of animal movement, which explicitly recognised each individual as the central unit of measure. The model was developed by learning from a real dataset that measured and calculated, for individual cows in a herd, their linear and angular positions and directional and angular speeds. Two learning algorithms were implemented: a Hidden Markov model (HMM) and a long-term prediction algorithm. It is shown that a HMM can be used to describe the animal's movement and state transition behaviour within several “stay” areas where cows remained for long periods. Model parameters were estimated for hidden behaviour states such as relocating, foraging and bedding. For cows’ movement between the “stay” areas a long-term prediction algorithm was implemented. By combining these two algorithms it was possible to develop a successful model, which achieved similar results to the animal behaviour data collected. This modelling methodology could easily be applied to interactions of other animal species.     

兰成渝腐蚀管道失效压力的GA-BP 神经网络组合预测方法

为准确掌握管道失效压力,保证管道安全运行,根据神经网络的非线性和良好的函数逼近特性,提出了基于遗传算法（GA）优化的BP神 经网络组合模型的腐蚀长输管道失效压力预测模型。组合模型将最佳组合阀值与权值隐含在网络的连接中,兼具遗传算法、人工神经网络预测 的优点,并克服了原始数据少对预测精度的影响,同时避免了神经网络容易陷入局部寻优的缺陷,也增强了网络的适应性,改善网络的收敛性 ,在客观地反应腐蚀油气管道失效压力变化趋势方面具有一定的优势。通过实例分析,结果表明:BP神经网络的预测值和Modified B31G计算结 果与真实值误差均较大,而GA-BP的预测值与实际结果的相对误差最大为6.12%,有很好的一致性,为管道的预防性维修提供了理论依据。     

酸沉降对马尾松菌根共生蛋白及营养关系影响

研究模拟酸雨及不同Ｃａ／Ａｌ比对马尾松（Ｐｉｎｕｓｍ ａｓｓｏｎｉａｎａ Ｌａｍ ｂ．）菌根中真菌与植物共生及营养关系的影响,在分子水平上揭示污染对生物的作用和生物抗性机理．当ｐＨ２０ 的模拟酸雨与铝共同作用时,马尾松菌根中酸性磷酸酶、硝酸还原酶以及海藻糖酶和甘露醇脱氢酶活性明显下降,即ｐＨ２０ 的模拟酸雨及铝离子对马尾松幼苗根的磷、氮吸收以及两共生生物之间的营养物质交换过程产生了影响,且铝离子在ｐＨ值低的情况下毒性作用更强;而钙能有效地缓解铝的毒性⒚在本实验中当Ｃａ／Ａｌ比为１／１ 时,缓解能力最强;在接种外生菌根真菌彩色豆马勃（Ｐｉｓｏｌｉｔｈｕｓｔｉｎｃｔｏｒｉｕｓ）后,马尾松幼苗根部酶活性仍能保持一定水平,植物对模拟酸雨及铝毒的抗性增强．菌根形成初期,经等点聚焦电泳后分离出在植物及真菌纯培养中均不存在的共生蛋白,其等电点为４７０,经ｐＨ２０的模拟酸雨处理后该蛋白仍存在     

高温好氧垃圾堆肥中人工接种初步研究

本文筛选比较了６２５株细菌、１５３株霉菌、２７株放线菌对果胶、淀粉、纤维素和半纤维素的降解能力。选用了降解能力和抗逆能力均强的芽孢杆菌「ＨＢ（３５）０５」、霉菌「Ｍ（２１）０１」和放线菌「ＨＡ（３２）０１」各１株作为种子,进行了人工接种堆肥试验,试验表明,接种１．５％能缩短发酵时间１６ｈ。     

黄土高原人工林土壤水分效应的地带性特征

为提高黄土高原人工植被建设成效,依据天然植被呈地带性分布的规律,对比分析不同地带人工林与天然植被对土壤水分利用的差异。结果表明:不同植被地带的人工林下均存在一定程度的水分亏缺和干化层现象,其严重程度为森林带<森林草原带<典型草原带。森林带的水分条件可满足林木成材对水分的需求,林木采伐后土壤水分可得到很好恢复;森林草原带可满足10龄以下林木生长对水分需求,10龄以上林分的水分亏缺严重,林木采伐后土壤水分恢复进程缓慢;典型草原带不能满足人工林生长对水分需求。在此基础上,提出了与地带性水分条件相适应的人工林草植被建设模式。     

基于BP模型的大气污染预报方法的研究

BP模型是目前最为广泛应用的神经网络模型之一,它是一种简单而又非常有效的算法.笔者将BP网络模型引入到大气污染预报领域,并根据大气污染物含量与气象要素的关系建立了大气污染物含量的神经网络预报模型.计算结果表明,BP模型应用于大气污染预报具有较高的预测精度和良好的泛化能力,它为信息社会的城市空气污染预报工作提供了一种全新的思路和方法.